It's an interesting debate, because it does raise the issue of whether a jockey's loyalty is to his employer, who wants things done a certain way, or to the wider remit of racing in general (the punters, the stewards, the televised image, etc.). Jockeys are damned if they ride to instructions and fail; damned if they try to ride out of the instructions because they think they're not going to help them win (the Cantoris method), and only place; lauded if they abandon the trainer's instructions and win... which makes their employer look a prat, and might mean they're soon seeking employment elsewhere. So, with one person or another, they're in dog doo-doo, unless they commit a flawless 5l win on the favourite.
I don't think critics can start massaging the scenario too far, Cantoris: I'm sure there are hundreds of races every year where the trainer thinks "Bugger! Got that wrong!", but that's what trainers are paid to do - figure the best way to run their charges, and instruct their jockeys to work with that figuring. AOB clearly figured that it was best to hold up DRUMBEAT, and that's what his jockey did. As said above, he's a trainer who doesn't even let his trusty old THLs do up the girths, for God's sake! He's clearly very precise to the point of, perhaps, compulsion, so I doubt that jockeys get any pats on the back for riding against his orders.
So, it's true - jockeys can't win. If the way that his trainer told him to ride the horse meant that Heffernan couldn't put it into the best position to win from, then the trainer is responsible for the result. I don't, honestly, see how anyone can see that outcome any differently. His instructions weren't "Hold him up, then come out late, but if you want to do it all quite differently, then make it up as you go along", which is what you'd have preferred. If that's the case, you don't need a trainer, do you? You'd just need a stable lad, make the entries yourself, hire the jock, and tell him to have at it the best way he can!
